Sweet Al

Assemblyman Roger Green held a press conference this morning to endorse the Atlantic Yards proposal in Brooklyn, but it wasn’t just the fact that Green had pled guilty to padding his travel expenses last year which made this thinly attended event odd. (Oh, plenty of other electeds and community leaders stood beside him—it was the press that was lacking.) Rather, he upstaged himself by announcing that Rev. Al Sharpton would come out for the Forest City Ratner project—the one with the Nets arena and 17 high rise towers—tomorrow night at the Duryea Presbyterian Church in Prospect Heights. This isn’t the first time the Reverend Al has gotten into the development game—he endorsed the Jets stadium for many of the same reasons, including jobs and contracts for minorities.

As much as Forest City must value Reverend Al’s support, it surely cannot like the comparisons that journalists will doubtlessly draw with the failed Jets’ campaign.